Protective structures for sporting equipment have traditionally been made from sheet like material by die-cutting and by shaping the die-cut piece as it is subjected to heat to a desired shape. Also bends have been done to the sheet like material during die-cutting in order to achieve stiffness to the piece. Also openings could have been done to the piece during die-cutting in order to make the piece lighter. Plastic has normally been used as the material. Such protective structures have been used in the outer surface of sporting equipment e.g. ice hockey leg shields or within the sporting equipment between softer protective structures e.g. between foamed plastics. The purpose of the protective structure is to receive shocks from the outside and to distribute the energy of the shock to a wider area.
A protective structure made of sheet like material by die-cutting becomes fairly heavy. The thickness of the material is the same throughout the whole piece and the ability of the piece to distribute shocks effectively to a wider area remains rather limited.
FI-patent 103862 shows a protective pad for an outfit equipped with separate protective pads that are inserted into pockets. The protective pad is composed of a flexible cellular protective pad material which retains its shape and comprises interconnected walls which extend from an outer surface to an inner surface of the protective pad, said walls having a width in the direction of the surface of the pad which is smaller than the height of the wall in the thickness direction of the protective pad. The walls form cells with a closed periphery such that between the walls of the cells there remain holes extending through the pad. The pad is advantageously made from a sheet like cellular material by cutting the material into a shape having the appropriate contour. The width of the walls increases advantageously from the outer surface towards the inner surface of the pad. The pad can be manufactured e.g. by injection molding or by producing a cellular sheet, where cells needed for the pad are on a big sheet. The height of the walls i.e. the thickness of the pad is the same on the whole area of the pad.